Tag Archives: Australia

Even in the midst of a recession, there are those who have and those who have not. Those who have money generally know how they got it. Those who ‘have not’, excellently referred to as the “Not So Well To Do’s” on Free From Broke, by contrast generally have no idea why the have no money! Anyway, I digress.

For those who have, there are a number of ….’options’ when it comes to the golden variety of plastic. I thought I would take the time to do a post on the gold cards on the market in Australia and here’s what I’ve come up with.

If you’re is looking for high credit limits, then check out the CitiBusiness Gold Card or American Express Gold Choice credit cards. The CitiBusiness Gold Card has a whopping $60,000 credit limit while the American Express Gold Choice Card has a maximum $50,000 credit limit … for those who qualify. Both cards feature aggressive reward point systems and 55 day interest free days, but the CitiBusiness Gold Card also offers 7.99% p.a. for 6 months on balance transfers.

Those ‘who have’ and are looking for gold credit cards with a comparatively low APR might be surprised to find the ANZ’s Gold Visa Card or the Citibank Gold Card. The ANZ Gold Card has 17.49% per annum interest rate which is much less than the 19.99% of the Citibank Gold Card.

The ANZ card offers 44 days of interest free days on purchases as well as 24/7 travel assistance wheras the Citibank gold offers 55 days interest free, travel insurance plus access to Citibank World Privileges.

Both the ANZ Gold Visa Card and the Citibank card come with international travel insurance.

The ANZ Gold Visa Card comes with a credit limit up to $25,000 and a 7.99% balance transfer period of 6 months.

The Citibank Gold Card comes with a credit limit up to $25,000 and a 2.9% balance transfer period of 6 months.

For those who travel internationally it is worth noting that Citibank has branches in many countries which might just sway you….if you are a ‘have’.

If you’re looking to transfer large balances at low interest rates then they ought to look at the Citibank Gold Card or the CBA Gold Card. The Citibank Gold Card offers an incredibly low 2.99% per annum rate on balance transfers for a full year while the CBA card offers a very reasonable 5.99% per annum rate on all balance transfers for a 5 month period.

For some people, credit cards can present a serious problem when it comes to spending control. Students and young people are especially susceptible to this, as they can often have poor spending habits when they first head off to uni and gain a measure of freedom. In order to help people control their bad spending habits, banks are offering debit cards so that people can access their money using a card using Visa instead of the Eftpos.

The best thing about this a debit card is that you can set your spending limits. Customers are only able to spend as much money as they have in their bank account, so this can really help to suppress frivolous spending a great deal. Really this is a pre-credit approach to spending where the consumer only spends what they have instead of the “buy now and forever be in debt” model that so many of us now operate under.

Take for example the St. George Visa Debit Card, its accepted almost everywhere because Visa. It gives you the ability to make purchases everywhere that Visa is accepted, and this includes making internet purchases. Along those same lines, the card has special protections to make internet purchasing a little bit safer than it might have otherwise been.

One of the excellent aspects of this card is that it will take cash out of the equation for travelers. If you are going on a trip, you don’t want to be carrying lots of cash on your person. This can be dangerous and it is really unnecessary, given the fact that there are acceptable options at your disposal.

Lots of these debit cards have popped up recently, but that doesn’t mean that they are all the same. The St. George Visa Debit Card stands out from the crowd because of its wide spread access across the world. When you are working with the power of Visa, you can be reasonably sure that you are going to be able to get money out of an ATM or make an important purchase no matter where you find yourself. In addition, you will get 10 free email or text message alerts to keep you up to date on the important details that matter to your account.

The Woolworths Everyday Money credit card is like a lot of rewards credit cards in a number of ways.

The rewards credit cards seek to help out their customers by rewarding them for their spending. The cards are differentiated by what types of rewards are offered and by how much it will cost for these rewards to kick in. Typically, rewards credit cards are a nice way to offset the costs of doing business in today’s corporate world.

The Woolworths Everyday Money Credit Card has a number of features, most of which are good when compared to other cards. The card features no annual fee for the first year, which means customers will save on somewhere close to $50 that they otherwise would have had to pay during that opening period.

The card offers what they are terming a competitive type of interest rate. This rate promise goes along with the advertised offer of no interest for the first 55 days in which you have the cards. Together, this means that the card has one of the lowest APR numbers in the entire industry.

One of the most unheralded aspects of this card is the security system that comes along with it. There is chip technology, meaning that you are safer in the unfortunate case that your card is stolen or you happen to lose it. This can set your mind at ease and it can potentially save you lots of money in case of an emergency.

The rewards are obviously the best thing about this card, and you get some right off the bat. They offer a $50 shopping card when you first get the credit card if you spend on your card before 30 April 2009. You can also earn three rewards points for every dollar that you spend, and you will be given a shopping card every four months if you use the card.

One of the ways in which the Woolworths Everyday Money card compares most favorably is with the interest rate. While many rewards cards are charging north of 20% APR on purchases, this card keeps it well below that threshold.

For the average bill paying person there may be nothing more complicated than consolidating debt. However there is help available in the form of a debt consolidation calculator and this calculator can really help you get a hold of your personal debt.

A debt consolidation calculator is a planning tool that asks you to input all of the debt you wish to consolidate and then gives you options on what kinds of loans you can use to consolidate that debt. The calculator will show you how much money you will save per month and it will also show you how much money you will save on the final costs of the debt you are consolidating.

A debt consolidation calculator can take an otherwise confusing situation and make it very clear and understandable. Debt consolidation takes debt from a number of places and tried to bring it under one loan payment. This can get extremely confusing and nearly impossible to figure out by hand if you have no previous banking or financial planning experience. With a debt consolidation calculator all you need to know is what debt you want to take care of and the calculator will show you all of the information you need to know.

Many people find themselves with multiple department store, or specialty store, credit cards that have extremely high interest rates. With a debt consolidation calculator you can enter all of the information about those credit cards into the calculator and it will show you how much money you will save with a consolidation loan not only on a monthly basis but also with the final payment of the debt as well.

In a case like this a debt consolidation calculator can show you how to save hundreds, and possibly thousands, of dollars. The calculator can show you how to get your personal debt under control and it can also show you the cost savings between the various consolidation loan terms that would be available to you. It is an invaluable tool when it comes to planning the consolidation of all or part of your personal debt. Remember the goal is to owe no man anything, so keep striving to get your debts paid off.